Tuesday Update

Days continue to be a grind of nausea, exhaustion, and frustration.  Alli went back to work Monday working partial days as the baby steps continued forward.  After talking with the doctors we adjusted some of the medications around to help her sleep at night as well as to balance out some of the meds.  We took one step forward with the adjustment in that she slept better last night as was able to get to sleep right away.  We also took one step back in that the revised planned had a big gap in time between meds so the nausea started to come back in full force during the day.  So we decided time for a new plan again for tomorrow to help get that step back. 

The doctor also wants to check her blood again and get an MRI of Alli's brain as a precaution because of the on-going nausea.  So tomorrow we will head over to SCCA to give her some more fluids and do some bloodwork, then head over to UW to do the MRI.  We'll get the results of the MRI on Monday when we head back over for her scheduled dose of Round #4 of the 2-drug treatment.  So keep the prayers and good thoughts coming that for good MRI results. 

Also, please add in a second dose of prayers and good thoughts for Kim.  Her second surgery is also scheduled for tomorrow at UW as well.  Its a 7-8 hours surgery followed by a few days in the hospital for recovery.  We'll need the continued good thoughts and prayers as we get through these as a family. 

-B

Feeling Crappy Still Sucks!!!

Yep, unfortunately the Husband is here again for a quick update before bed.  While we have the nausea better under control Alli is still feeling pretty lousy in general.  Between the meds, lack of appetite, and lack of food her energy level has been low the last couple days and she is feeling pretty wiped out.  She has been able to eat and drink a little more the last couple days but still not a lot and she still doesn't feel very good afterword. 

Sometimes we want things to come back to feeling "normal" in great strides but baby steps is all that seem to appear.  Here is hoping the baby steps keep coming and maybe they can just grow at least a little bit as we get through this.  This one below made, by herself, a special batch of gluten free blueberry muffins to share with her mom when those steps keep coming.

More to come as wherever we go, you go.

-B 

Nausea Sucks!!!!

As you can maybe tell from the title and the first letter of this post, OMG capital letters, Alli is not writing this post; the Husband is. 

Unfortunately the nausea that had been ramping up since before the last treatment has continued to get worse.  Alli has been pretty much bedridden since last Saturday as the nausea has been constant and relentless.  We've been working with the doctors to try some different combinations of meds but they wanted her to come in today to run some bloodwork and give her some meds. 

The good news is that the bloodwork pretty much came back normal and her liver levels are staying right where they should be.  The only blood level that came back out of whack was one that roughly correlates to her nutrition level which wasn't a big shock for someone who hasn't ate/ drank much lately.  As I type she is getting some IV fluids to help with her dehydration as well as some IV nausea meds which should hopefully both help get her over this hump.  She will also now have a 4th nausea medicine in her cocktail to hopefully hold off the nausea moving forward. 

Though having to come SCCA for these circumstances really sucks, the kindness of the people here does at least help make it as good of a bad situation as possible.  From the receptionist that brings out a warm blanket to Alli since she can tell she is feeling so crappy to the nurse gets the big room early and offers Alli to come back and lay down; from the scheduler who kindly bribes another scheduler with chocolate to find Alli an earlier IV time to the other receptionist that brings out a pillow to make Alli more comfortable for the couple minutes while we wait to go back for her IV; there are so many wonderful people here to help with situation as best and in whatever way that they can.

   

More to come later and keep all the no nausea good thoughts coming. 

-B

round 3

this is going to a short one because i am currently in serious nausea hell.

my liver levels were good today so i got to do round three. super thankful for that.

if i can do round 4, then we will wait three weeks and do scans. i will likely then go back on the one drug rotation as the dual combo is only meant to be taken for four rounds. so let's hope that these 4 rounds are working some tumor magic and we see some serious shrinking or see them totally annihilated.

kim was at scca today for her follow up appointment after surgery so her and my brother hung out in my room with me and barrett for a little bit before her appointment. her appointment went well with her surgeon and she is healing well. super thankful for that.

anywhere i fight, you fight.

happy valentine's day to you all. give yourselves some extra love tomorrow, you deserve it.

xo

around here

+++ around here we are super thankful that kim got good news this week from her surgery. the cancer did not spread and was not in her lymph nodes. which is the best news that we could have got. her first surgery was essentially her treatment and she will not need to do any chemo or radiation. tomorrow she heads back up to seattle cancer care alliance for her post-op appointment and then goes to UW for a scan that is needed before her next surgery. she is doing as well as she could during this recovery and has been able to get out for some walks and fresh air. thanks for all of the love and mojo that you are sending her and please keep it up.

+++ around here i am still rooting for my friend mary in wisconsin. her test results confirmed that the melanoma has not spread and is within the area of her leg that she already knew about. super thankful that it has not spread and is not in her organs. she will be having some follow up tests this month to determine next steps. please keep sending her the love and mojo.

+++ around here i ordered this empathy kindness respect t-shirt because our world needs more of all three and the profits on the shirt go to support the international rescue committee. but act fast if you want one, as the sale is going on only through 8pm monday night.

+++ around here i am super proud of the awesome work my friend kelly barton has in her esty shop. so good.

+++ around here i am super proud of my friend liz for starting a dream of hers with the talisman of the month club and if you, or someone you know, needs some self-care each month you should  definitely check it out.

+++ around here we celebrated my dad's 72nd birthday yesterday. we ate really good food (thanks mom), laughed (thanks fam), and loved getting to watch him blow out his candles and make his wish for the 72nd time.

+++ around here we are gearing up for all the fun that comes with valentine's day. the box for valentine's. writing out each valentine and adding candy hearts to each one. having a valentine's party. i don't know about you, but when i was in school, valentine's day was one of my favorites. actually, it still is.

+++ around here we went to see my grandma in her nursing home and she recognized us when we walked in and we even got to get some laughs in with her. it is amazing how much things have changed with her so quickly, i am glad that we were home and able to see her.

+++ around here we are loving the blue sky that came out today which seemed so odd after having 10 inches of snow drop on us on sunday and monday. but a week that includes some sledding and snowball fights and snowman building, and includes gorgeous blue sky works for me.

+++ around here we thinking about plans for our house and projects we want to complete.

+++ around here i am mentally gearing up for treatment day tomorrow.

+++ around here i have been nauseas for most of the last 5 days. i can't seem to get a break except for when my meds kick in and i get a little reprieve. this has been a brutal run and has made me cancel plans and stick close to home for the most part. when it comes on, it comes on strong and is unrelenting. i am hoping that this is not a new normal for me, because as you all know, i would take on just about any other side effect other than nausea as it is just so debilitating. ugh.

+++ around here i am continuing to eat a banana a day so that i don't get charlie horses during the night. last week we ran out of bananas and i totally forgot to get some on the way home. big, big mistake. i had two massive charlie horses in both legs at the same time at about 2am. it was so damn painful my legs were sore for days afterwards. so me and bananas are best buds these days. 

+++ around here i can't believe that is the middle of february. seriously, wasn't it just january 1st?

+++ around here i am continuing to read library books as much as i can.

+++ around here i have been sending out some happy mail and loving it.

+++ around here i am drinking orange juice every day. it is the only liquid besides water that tastes good anymore. my appetite has continued to take a serious nose dive and most things either do not taste good at all or do not even sound good enough to taste. but oj hits the spot.

+++ around here i miss writing in this space.

+++ around here i am hoping that you all had a great weekend, and that your mondays get off to a great start.

for mary

"you can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you"

(mary tyler moore)

tomorrow is my friend mary's PET scan where they do a full body scan to determine if there is melanoma anywhere else other than her leg.

so i need you all to kick up your mojo, love, and prayers and shoot them to little chute, wisconsin in the morning.

mary is already brave because she has been fighting melanoma for years now, and as we all know, melanoma is not a wonderful thing.

but because she is brave, i know that she will face this head on like she does with everything she has done throughout her fight. and i have a very good feeling that this scan is going to come back with the all clear except for the area that we already know is a problem. mary send me a picture this week of her in a hat that read "melanoma sucks worse than the president". enough said.

so let's send more love to wisconsin in the morning than that state will even know what to do with.

i am also happy to update that kim was released today from the hospital and is doing as well as possible. she has meds to help with the pain and has been able to get some rest throughout the day -- and hopefully that trend continues through the night. thank you for all the love that you have sent her way.

with all of the crazy (understatement) things going on in our world right now, it brings me great comfort to know that there are so many good, good people i know that care so much about others and their stories. love and kindness win, even in the darkest days, i know that is true.

thank you for being one of the people that allows me to know that.

you all are the very best kind of magic.

surgery day + happy mail for kim

thanks for all the good vibes for kim.

her surgery today went as well as it could have. the surgeon indicated that there were no surprises during surgery, and they were able to remove the needed lymph nodes with the same incisions as the main surgery so that was good news.

kim got out of surgery around 4 today and was in her room by about 6 or so. she was doing as well as can be expected, and luckily, was not nauseas from coming off of the anesthesia. i am so relieved about that as i was hoping that she would not have to deal with that.

she was resting well when we headed home tonight and will hopefully get some good sleep tonight. we were all up together until after 1am last night because we couldn't sleep, we got a little bit between 2 and 5am, and then were up and getting ready to head to seattle. so i would say at this point we are all pretty exhausted (nothing compared to how tired kim is).

my sister (aka "nerd" for those of you that have read this blog long enough) are organizing a happy mail campaign for kim. for those that haven't read this blog long enough to know what those are, it is when we send a deserving recipient some fun mail to cheer them up. a card, a postcard, a package, it can be anything - just needs to help cheer them up and lift their spirits. the way it works is that we assign a week to each person and that way we know that kim will get some fun mail every week as she recovers from this surgery, goes through her second surgery at the beginning of march, and recovers from that one and moves through what comes next. if you would like to participate, just let me know and nerd and i will be in touch with more details on the logistics.

thanks for all the love and prayers and mojo for kim, we all carried them with us through this long day and they worked - we are super thankful that all went well, there were no surprises, and she is doing well.

thank you from all of us. xo